Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed
by JeichanHaka
Summary: The curse had followed Deidre her whole life, giving her good luck at the cost of other's misfortune. Wanting it to end, she takes a chance when a familiar stranger online prods her to seek out Storybrooke, the one place that could help her break her curse and perhaps provide answers to the dreams which plague her. (Concurrent with Once Upon a Midnight: Audrina)
1. Chapter 1

**Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed**

 **Chapter 01:** The Stranger

 _-"Why?!" A woman howled, her cries like a creature being tortured. Her face scrunched up and distorted, tears streaming from her eyes, she seemed like Niobe of Greek myth._

 _"I...Mrs. Gray, I..."_

 _"Don't touch me!" The woman screamed, her voice echoing through the hospital corridor as did the slap across the other's face. "This is your fault! All of it! My son is...my child is..." She gasped and slapped the younger woman again. And again. "It's your fault! Yours! You cursed demon!"_

 _"Stop! Stop!" A few orderlies and nurses rushed towards them, grabbing the older woman's arms. They pulled Mrs. Gray away from the younger woman who made no attempt to escape the blows. It wasn't until the older woman was gone and the hall quieted, that the younger woman moved._

 _Then all she did was touched her cheek, her cheeks drenched with silent tears. Tears that stung._

 _"I..."_

 _Her lips trembled and she hurried away, towards the closest restroom. She barely managed to shut the stall door before sobbing and retching, her insides burning. Every inch of her body shook. "I...I'm sorry. I'm sorry."_

* * *

"There you go." The cashier said as he handed the customer her change, his smile courteous.

"...thank you." Said the young woman, as she pulled a few strands of her cropped short, chestnut hair behind her ears. Her lips pulled into a shy smile, she picked up her purchased items from the counter.

"Say, where you headed?" The cashier asked, curious as he eyed the young woman and the disheveled car she had parked in the lot.

"Um, I..." The woman smiled shyly in answer, her hand tensing as she lifted her second bag. It wasn't much, but the cashier noticed it.

"Are you okay? Do you need help carrying everything to your car?"

She shook her head, and cleared her throat. "No. I'm okay. I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I..." She faltered, fumbling over what to say, before plastering a slightly wider smile on her face. "Storybrooke. I'm heading to a town called Storybrooke. It's...I've been told it's the perfect place for a fresh start."

"Storybrooke, huh? Never heard of it. Is it out of state?" The cashier asked, glancing briefly at a customer loitering near the alcohol.

"No, it's..."

"Hey! You! I saw that!" The cashier shouted at the other customer, after seeing the young man slip a bottle under his jacket. Before the cashier could get another word out, the shoplifter ran for the exit. "You son of a..."

The cashier hurried after the shoplifter, pushing past the young woman who stood rock still at the counter.

She swallowed and turned slowly, her cheeks pale. Her crystal blue eyes watched the scene unfold - watched as the cashier chased after the shoplifter, catching hold of him midway across the parking lot. Watched as the bottle fell and shattered on the asphalt, watched as the cashier tackled the teen. Her chest tightened as the cashier and teen stumbled, landing on top of the shattered bottle.

She swallowed, her eyes barely blinking as the cashier grimaced and rolled onto his back. A large shard of glass sticking out of his chest. She tensed as the teen, only slightly scratched by the fall, hurriedly stood up and gazed horrified at the fatally wounded cashier. The shoplifter stumbled backwards a few steps before running off.

 _-"You cursed demon!"-_

She gasped, her chest tightened with horror, the woman's accusation echoing in her head. 'It can't...it...'

She blinked, her body rooted to the spot, and slowly glanced back into the store. Her gaze slowly shifted to behind the counter, her body tensing each second. There was a loud thud, as her bags fell from her slackened grip, and her breath quickened.

The cash register, filled with bills, lay opened behind the counter.

"No. Please." She mumbled, her vision blurring.

 _-"You cursed demon! Why?! Why my son?! Why?!" The older woman screamed, her face twisted in grief. "Get the hell out! You and your wretched, cursed luck! Get!" -_

"No. I..." She covered her mouth with trembling fingers, her eyes red-rimmed and sore. She glanced towards the cashier lying motionless outside, knowing by the sickening dread in her stomach that it was too late. "...I am cursed."

 _-"There's one place that can help you." The man said, his voice calm and comforting. "A town in Maine, called Storybrooke. You can move there, and get a fresh start. Free from...from this bad luck that follows you."_

 _"But..." She whispered into the phone, her heart aching. "I don't have the money. I..."_

 _"Don't worry. I'll send you some and the directions. It's not far from my old home." He reassured her, her heart fluttering just listening to the sound. She couldn't help but mutter 'all right', before saying goodbye. "Goodnight, Deidre."-_

She closed her eyes, taking in a breath, her heart fluttering from the man's voice even though it was just a memory. Opening her eyes, the blue orbs weary but hardened from determination, Deidre grabbed the cash. Within moments her bags were filled with all the money they could hold, and she was driving away.

It was only as she was driving away that she called the police, pausing only briefly as she thought of the cashier. His dead face had been contorted with surprise when she passed, the latest in a long line of those with the misfortune to cross her path. And hopefully the last victim of whatever wretched curse followed her.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Star-Crossed:**

 **Chapter 02:** Storybrooke

The forest was quiet, looming vibrantly on either side of the road and as far into the distance as Deidre could see. To her left, the overheated wreck she had called her car billowed out smoke - the gray tendrils floating upwards.

"Please...no..." She mumbled, inching forward to check on something crumbled on the ground in front of the smoldering wreck. Her stomach twisted as she saw the body of a man, lying prone just a half foot from the front bumper. "...no."

It felt like every breath she ever took was being ripped from her at once and each beat of her heart was a stab. Seeing the man lying there, his face heavily scarred and bloodied, filled her with dread and horror. She trembled, tears and panic filling her eyes as she remembered Mrs. Gray and the hospital. The accident that had killed the woman's son...

She slapped her hand over her mouth, nausea bubbling up from her gut. Each second slow and agonizing, her instinct telling her to run away. It was impossible for her to help - her cell phone battery had died an hour ago, and they were far from the last rest stop. Not to mention that it seemed that the town she'd been heading toward was still a distance away. Though she swore that it should've been nearby, unless she was lost.

"Uh...hm." The injured man mumbled incoherently, the sound pulling Deidre from her thoughts. Her eyes shot wide open and she hurried to the stranger's side.

"It...it'll be okay. It..." Deidre knelt beside the man, her voice trailing off partly from the smoke and partly from despair. There was nothing she could do - no phone, no car, no town nearby. This was the worst luck she'd ever had.

She blinked, the nausea in her gut abating, replaced by another feeling. Her worst luck?

Her face pale but less terrified, she searched the stranger's pockets and let out a relieved sigh when she found a cell phone.

X

Storybrooke:

"All right. Just calm down." David Nolan, phone pressed to his ear, reassured the person on the other end of the call. He'd just entered the sheriff's office looking for his daughter when the landline had rung. "I'm on my way. Can you tell me where are you?"

He hesitated a brief moment when the caller answered, the location unexpected. Shaking away the surprise, he once more reassured the caller that help was on its way, and then hung up.

"Hey," Emma walked into the room just as David was on his way out. "Mom said you were..." She paused, quickly recognizing the expression on her father's face. "What is it?"

"Someone just called in a bad car accident." David replied, gesturing towards the phone and then taking out his keys. "One of the people in it has been badly hurt."

"All right." Emma said, quickly grabbing her red leather jacket from her desk. "Let's go. Where is it?"

"At the town line." David replied, while holding the door open for his daughter. He paused a brief moment, like he had while on the phone, his brow knitted in slight disbelief. "...actually, just outside the town line."

"What?" Emma gaped, but quickly followed after her father.

X

Deidre lowered the phone slowly after the call ended, her heart beginning to pound harder. More fervently. It felt like someone was watching her, but when she glanced down at the injured man, his eyes were closed tight.

Trembling from a cool but gentle breeze, she gazed upon the man's heavily scarred face and felt a strange sensation envelop her. It was as though this man - this stranger - was someone she knew. That something about him was familiar.

"...heh." The man mumbled, his eyes fluttering open briefly to gaze up at Deidre staring at him. The briefest of smiles graced his lip, before he grimaced and hissed from pain. He muttered a few curses and a few otherwise unintelligible words.

Deidre's eyes widened, recognizing the voice as the man she'd befriended online. The one who had told her to travel to Storybrooke, that her luck would change there.

"You, you're…." She mumbled and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. Her heart thumped faster as she stared down at the wounded man, her gut twisting in fear. Not of the man, but for him. The last thing she ever thought or wanted was for him to be a victim of her luck. A casualty of the curse that seemed to follow her. "Please don't…."

She swallowed and leaned her forehead against his, her lips trembling.

"Hey. Are you all right? How badly are you hurt?" Emma approached, her father not far behind. Her gaze shifted from Deidre, who shook her head, to the unconscious man.

Deidre trembled, holding the man's hand tightly, not fully aware of Emma or David. Not until they tried moving the injured man.

"What? Where?"

"It's okay. We just need to move him so he's away from the car." Emma said and gestured towards the now visible town-line. It was a partial truth, though not one that worried her, not like the possibility of the strange woman realizing that the entering Storybrooke sign had appeared out of thin air.

Deidre just nodded, not noticing the sign or the line drawn across the road. All her attention was simply on the injured man as the two carried him a short distance away.

"All right." Emma gave her father a look, one that told him to distract the woman. To make sure the woman couldn't see her healing the unconscious man.

"Hey, let's talk over here." David led Deidre away from the man, his tone gentle and kind. "I'm David. What's your name?"

"Deidre. I…." Deidre replied, trying to glance back towards the injured man and growing irritated when David kept stopping her. "I need to...please. I…."

"It's…." David started to reassure Deidre, but faltered a moment when he glanced over at Emma. His brow furrowed when he saw the expression on his daughter's face, his confusion quickly shifting to concern when the injured man suddenly stood up and knocked Emma away with magic. "Emma!"

Thrown against a tree by the magic blast, Emma gasped in pain as her head collided with the trunk. Her vision blurred, preventing her from getting a clear view of the stranger before he vanished in a cloud of magic.

"Emma! Are you all right?" David ran to his daughter's side, forgetting about Deidre who stood stock still and gaping at where the other stranger had been.

"I'm...I'm fine." Emma replied, leaning on her father's shoulder while the pain in her head lessened. "Just a slight concussion. I've been hit with worse." She glanced towards Deidre, her eyes narrowing. "Hey, you! Do you know that guy?"

Deidre, her disbelieving eyes still locked on the same spot, ignored Emma. Instead she opened her mouth as though to speak but only a spattering of unintelligible sounds came out.

"Hey! That guy who was just here, do you know him?" Emma repeated her question, though based on Deidre's reaction, she knew the likely answer.

"That's….what….ah...huh? But….how's…." Deidre mumbled, still not hearing Emma nor David when the latter repeated his daughter's question. It wasn't until one of them tried to grab her arm that she noticed them. Tensing up, she eluded the grasp and stepped backwards, very close to the town line.

"Wait, don't." Emma cautioned, recalling that Regina had agreed to suspend the protection spell around the town temporarily. Just long enough to bring the strangers over the town line and heal them. "Stop!"

Deidre shook her head and continued taking steps back until something caught her attention. She flinched and turned to stare at the town sign, and the wreckage of her car obscured partly behind it.

"That wasn't there before." She muttered, gesturing towards the sign and then the painted line stretching across the road.

Emma and David shared a look, realization dawning on them. Though the male stranger had to be connected to the Enchanted Forest somehow, this young woman wasn't. "...you must've hit your head in the crash pretty hard. Why don't we bring you to the hospital?"

"I'm fine. Completely." Deidre replied, finally noticing what the sign said as her shock ebbed. "...This is Storybrooke?"

"Yes. And it's a quiet little town. With a great hospital and an excellent mechanic. We'll get you and your car fixed in no time." David said, flashing a polite smile, attempting to convince the stranger to come with them.

"How about curses?" Deidre blurted, turning around just in time to see the surprised expressions on the other two's faces.

"C...curses?"

Deidre, recognizing the intent to deny the truth in their eyes, gestured towards where the other man had vanished. "After what I just saw, don't even try gaslighting me. Okay?"

"Sure. We won't." Emma replied, deciding to forego lying. Depending on how things developed from here, she could always have Regina mix up a memory potion. "But you're going to have to answer our questions. After we make sure you're all right."

"I'm fine." Deidre shook her head, dismissing the concern.

"You're sure? You were just in a car accident."

"I'm fine. Completely unscathed." Deidre gesturing as though to fling away the concern like an insect. She paused, finally realizing that these strangers were concerned and needed an explanation, not just a dismissal. "It's...it's why I'm here. Why I came to Storybrooke."

"Wait...you knew about this town?" David stared at Deidre, trying to figure out if she was originally from the Enchanted Forest. It was possible, but considering her shock at seeing magic, unlikely.

"Yeah. Well, I knew its name and that it was around here." Deidre replied, placing her right hand in her pocket and gesturing around them with her left. "Someone I met online mentioned those here could help with breaking a curse."

"Uh...um, what kind of curse?"

Deidre gestured behind her, grimacing but otherwise keeping the tumult of emotion and memory locked inside. "The kind where my fortune always leads to someone else's, usually fatal, misfortune."

She watched as Emma and David glanced at the car wreck and then her, a new understanding of the scene dawning upon them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed:**

 **Chapter 03:** Fortune Accursed

Belle smiled down at her son cradled in her arms while she fed him. It was so amazing, this moment, holding her son in her arms and finally feeling that her happy ending was real. That nothing would get in the way. It'd been nearly a year since the Black Fairy's defeat and Storybrooke was finally experiencing a long needed peace from threat after threat. Her husband had even stopped using his dark magic in a real attempt at changing.

"...I'm glad I didn't give up on your father." She whispered and kissed her son's head, thinking about all she'd been through over the years. Though she had experienced more pain from Rumple than most would consider worth it, and had thus pulled away from him more than a few times, she was happy now. Her relationship with Rumple may not have been a typical or ideal romance, but she couldn't help loving him.

"I'm glad for that too." Rumplestiltskin said, watching Belle from across the room, his gaze loving and amazed.

"Rumple!" Belle turned towards her husband, surprised. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she thought about how disheveled she must look. Gideon had been extremely fussy since the morning, so Belle hadn't bothered fixing herself up. "How long have you been there watching me?"

Rumple simply smiled in answer, and instead continued to stare at his wife, his eyes filled with fascination. "...you're beautiful."

Belle blushed deeper at the compliment, though with a smile on her lips. "Rumple..."

"I mean it. You're always beautiful." Rumple repeated and approached his wife, kissing her cheek once he was close enough. He chuckled slightly when Belle playfully pouted at the chaste kiss, her eyes and how she tilted her head showing what she wanted. Beaming, he kissed her again, this time on the lips. "...I love you."

Before Belle could respond, Gideon started fidgeting and burbling, his tiny hands reaching out for his mama and papa.

"Hey, little guy." Rumple smiled down at his son. "You're being good for your mom, right? It..." He froze suddenly, a peculiar expression crossing his face.

"Rumple? What is it?" Belle noticed the sudden shift in her husband's demeanor and became alarmed, her eyes widening. "What's...?"

"I...I need to go check something back at the shop." Rumple replied, his tone curt - a drastic shift from just moments ago.

"Rumple?" Belle frowned as her husband mumbled a reassurance that things were fine.

0

 _The scent of pine filled the air as a cool breeze squeezed through the forest. Her eyes followed the sway of the branches, the deep green pine needles shined brilliantly beneath the bright sun. Their movements like waves, it was easy to imagine the entire forest seeming like an endless green ocean. Especially amid the approaching winter._

 _"An ocean green amid a snowless winter." A young woman muttered, surveying her surroundings. No snow had yet fallen, but the skies overhead were almost leaden. "It'll come down soon. I need to hurry."_

 _She started to hurry, but stopped, her vision blurring. Her stomach gurgled and filled with nausea, every inch of her body suddenly exhausted. Pulling her travel cloak tighter around her, she stumbled over to a small boulder and sat. The cool breeze felt like nothing compared to the nausea bubbling in her stomach._

 _"What is wrong with me? I've barely even eaten today." She rubbed her abdomen, mulling over how much longer her journey was._

 _"What is wrong with you indeed."_

 _Her eyes widened, her body tensing at the haughty, menacing voice, and the woman it belonged to._

* * *

Deidre shivered sitting silently in a chair, her eyes closed. It had barely taken a second after sitting down for her to zonk out - the result of driving nonstop for close to thirty-four hours. It didn't help that her adrenaline from earlier had worn off or that she felt strangely safe in this town.

"...got to be kidding. She comes here for help and then just falls asleep?" Regina grumbled, shaking her head.

"She did mention something about being up driving for over thirty-two hours."

"Thirty...? No wonder she crashed her car. She's lucky she wasn't hurt." Regina remarked, crossing her arms.

"Interesting you should say that." Emma said, mulling over what Deidre had explained about her curse. Upon first hearing Deidre recount all the times in her life she'd escaped tragedy or been very fortunate, Emma and David had both wondered how it could be a curse. What was so unlucky about being so favored by fortune?

Then Deidre started talking about the people around her, about the effect her luck had on theirs. Just small things at first, like misplaced items or wrong turns - those sort of random things that could be attributed to simple bad luck or timing. But one day she had a near-miss collision with a drunk-driver, resulting in the driver's death as well as serious injuries to another pedestrian. A small child. Since that day, her luck steadily increased, but so had the misfortune of whoever was around her.

Culminating in the death of her fiance, Allan, in a car crash just a few weeks ago. She had escaped unscathed, while he and the people in the other vehicle perished or were horrendously maimed. Furthermore, she had been awarded settlements from the car manufacturer and insurance company of much greater amount than the other survivors. Worse, when she had tried offering to pay the hospital bills, etc, of the two survivors, both suddenly worsened and died.

 _-"Their family was terrified of me after that. Refused any effort on my part to help, even a simple apology. And Allan's mother's response was even worse." Deidre teared up, her lips and voice trembling. "...she called me a cursed demon. And I am...I killed her son. If he hadn't been in the car with me, if he'd never met me….he'd…."-_

Emma teared up just remembering Deidre's hopeless and distraught tone; the tale was so painful and unbelievable, yet each word was true. Her superpower of detecting lies had not once acted up while the other woman told her story.

"What is it? Emma…?"

"Is it possible for someone to be cursed by good fortune?" Emma blurted, unsure whether to hope Deidre's luck was just cruel fate or an actual curse. "Where every time something lucky happens to them, someone around them gets hurt? Or even dies?"

Regina gawked at the younger woman, her eyebrows risen in bewilderment. Her first reaction was to deny the possibility - given how curses generally were used, it was unlikely anyone would cast one like Emma described. Upon seeing the earnestness in Emma's eyes, Regina bit her tongue, and instead thought on it.

"It sounds more like a wish backfiring than an actual curse."

"A wish? Like from a genie?"

"Maybe." Regina deliberated, noting how Emma kept glancing at the slumbering stranger. It didn't take much effort to deduce who the blonde meant. Regina scoffed. "She told you she was cursed with good luck?"

"Not exactly." Emma replied and started describing some of what Deidre had mentioned happening. When she got to the part about Deidre's offer to help leading to the survivors' deaths, Regina interrupted.

"That doesn't sound like a genie-granted wish backfiring. Or...well, it doesn't sound like any normal wish backfiring." Regina grimaced, thinking over all she knew about magic.

"What could it be then? Because Deidre wasn't lying when she told me about her...luck."

"I don't know, exactly. Maybe someone added a curse to a wish. But that wouldn't explain why the ill-fortune started late, or why her luck changed." Regina stopped Emma with a look and gesture when the latter started to interrupt. "It did. From what you described, her luck was minor and then grew. If a curse was cast at the same time as the wish, I'd think it'd follow her with the same severity the whole time, increasing only if she tried tempting fate."

"'You think'? Is that an opinion or fact?"

Regina glowered at Emma. "It's the best I got. You want more, talk to someone more knowledgeable about curses than I am."

"...Gold."

Regina nodded.

Emma sighed, pressing her lips together and giving a reluctant smile. Not because she was afraid of asking the man for information, seeing as he had gotten less anal about demanding a price for his help ever since the final battle, but rather because involving him could possibly send him back to using dark magic. It'd been almost a year since Rumplestiltskin used his dagger, which was not only a boon for Storybrooke, but also and especially for Belle.

If any one was overdue for and deserving of a happy ending it was Belle.

"Why that look? Gold really seems to be trying to change this time. It's been nearly a year since he used dark magic."

"I know. But there also haven't been any magical threats for the past year either."

"What threat? It's tragic, what you described of Deidre's luck curse, but hardly a threat while she's in Storybrooke. It'd been worse if she stayed out there, where there's no magic." Regina countered, pausing only after noting the look on Emma's face. It was a mix of dread and knowing. "What is it? What aren't you saying?"

"There is a threat. There was someone else with Deidre when Dad and I checked the townline - a man. A man with magic, who attacked me and teleported himself away after I tried healing him. I…." Emma hesitated. "I didn't manage to get a good look at him, his face was all bloody and scarred, but he felt dangerous...and uncannily familiar."

0

The scarred-faced man's lips spread out into a thin smile, his eyes cold and secretive. Not making a sound, he waved his hand over his face, clearing the blood and smoothing out the scars. It'd been a gamble, his plan to enter Storybrooke, and for a brief moment he thought he'd failed or that fate may have conspired against him yet again. The moment he felt his magic return to him, although very muted, made him want to cackle and grin. He'd managed to refrain from doing so, while also slipping away from the savior's grasp.

But now, standing in the small shop filled with magical artifacts, the most essential of which he held in his hands, Wish-Rumple chortled. "...I just have one thing to deal with, then my plan can start, hee hee."

He glanced up at the the clanging bell of the shop door, his lips twitching.

"...speak of the devil…." He mumbled, turning around so that the one approaching would recognize him upon entrance. _'Oh, this is going to be fun. Hee, hee.'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Once Upon a Midnight: The Star-Crossed**

 **Chapter 04:**

 _The Wished Realm's Enchanted Forest: A Year Earlier:_

 _The tower, dusty and filled with cobwebs, was silent. It was evident that even the owners of the cobwebs had scurried off, abandoning the place._

 _Nothing moved. Not even the pair of dark eyes staring across the room. Moments passed without change, without sound, and those eyes just continued to stare. One could assume time had stopped upon taking in the scene, so still everything was. So silent._

 _A silence ended by the sharp clink of a cup shattering on the stone floor._

 _"No." Rumplestiltskin staggered forward, his gaze locked on the bones lying on the floor. Human bones, kept loosely bound by the tattered remains of a dress. He shook his head, not wanting to believe what it meant. "...No..."_

 _He knelt beside the skeleton and reached out to the skull with shaking fingers; even as he touched the skull, he could picture her exactly as he'd last seen her._

 _Beautiful._

 _Kind._

 _Alive._

 _"No!" He shouted, the inhuman yowl filling the tower. Pain. Regret. Anger. Rage. What he felt was impossible to describe in a single word. He just howled out in unintelligible rage, and shot fire balls at the walls and bed. Everything in that sparse tower cell he torched and blasted apart; the only things spared was Belle's skeleton and the section of wall where she had marked off each day of her captivity._

 _Growling and cursing, he readied a fireball for that wall, wanting nothing more than to eradicate them. He faltered though, eyeing those marks._

 _"Belle." He whispered and touched the nearest tally mark. His lips quivered, the next moment he waved his hand and extinguished the smoldering flames filling the rest of the cell. Closing his eyes after counting each tally mark, he reined in his rage with a delicious idea._

 _He was going to find where the Evil Queen hid and flay her. Slowly. Making sure it would last tenfold as long as Belle's captivity had._

 _"Heh. Heh." He cackled and magicked himself and Belle's remains out of the wretched tower._

* * *

Storybrooke:

Wish-Rumple straightened out the suit he wore, his attire, hair, etc, matching that of his Storybrooke counterpart. The dagger he'd pilfered carefully tucked in an inner pocket of his suit jacket.

"You will not get away with this. Belle will know you're not me." Gold-Rumple growled, wanting nothing more than to wring the other's neck. Yet unable to so long as the other held his dagger. "You're nothing more than a pale imitation. A flimsy wish version of who I was."

Wish-Rumple pursed his lips, his brown eyes narrowed and livid. The quiet anger on his face, shown in his rigid jaw as well as his glare, intensified each second. "...watch it."

"Or what?" Gold-Rumple taunted, latching onto the other's simmering temper. Partly in hope to use the other's anger to take back his dagger, but mostly from frustration.

"Or we'll see what happens when your 'pale imitation' stabs you with your dagger." Wish-Rumple threatened, his glower devoid of even the creepy childish mirth that was his shtick as the Dark One. "It'll be intriguing to see just how much dark magic a dagger - or realm - can hold."

Gold-Rumple hesitated, understanding the danger same as Wish-Rumple. Tethering the magic of every distinct Dark One into the dagger was one thing, but combining the dark magic of two of the same Dark Ones was another. He didn't even know if it was possible. And if it were, he'd much rather be the one stabbing his doppelganger.

"Considering…." Wish-Rumple paused, recalling how the portal to this realm had refused to open while he held his dark one dagger. It was his first clue that perhaps having two fully powered versions of himself in the same realm was likely too much for it to sustain. "Never mind."

"..." Gold-Rumple studied the other Rumple closely, the other's demeanor and thoughts an easy read. "...your dagger, where is it?"

Wish-Rumple simply tittered and shook his head.

"...You left it in your realm." Gold-Rumple hissed, a brief laugh escaping his throat. "You left it...heh, you better have an escape plan figured out, because when I get my dagger back - and I will - I'm coming after you. And we both know you won't win that fight"

"...well, you're right." Wish-Rumple gave a mirthless grin, his eyes filled with vitriol. He leered at the other and took out the dark one dagger. "You're right, you will get this dagger back...if you remain here." He laughed, noting the speck of fear disguised as hatred lighting up in the other's eyes as he raised the dagger. "I command you to go to my realm by whatever means necessary, but without alerting anyone."

Gold-Rumple scowled, his glare piercing and his fingers itching to throw a few fireballs at the other. With a flourish of his hand, he teleported away to do as commanded, unable to do otherwise. Once he was alone, Wish-Rumple dropped his smirk and turned to investigate the shop once more, this time more thoroughly.

"...now where is it…." He grumbled, slipping the dagger into his suit's inner pocket without another thought. Though the shop was filled with various magical artifacts, many with potent enchantments, he merely glanced and shrugged at each. His attention so focused on his task, he ignored the clinking of the shop bell as the front door opened. "It should be here…."

"...Rumple?" Belle called out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor as she headed towards the back. Despite still feeling tired, she couldn't ignore the gnawing feeling in her gut that something wasn't right. Thus after dropping off Gideon at daycare, she'd headed to find her husband. "What is it you needed to check in the shop? Perhaps I could help."

Wish-Rumple froze, hearing that voice. That kind, beautiful voice he hadn't heard in decades. It took all his willpower to not break his facade right then and embrace her desperately, like a starved beast.

"Rumple?" Belle approached and touched his arm, concern for her husband reflected in her eyes. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes." Wish-Rumple turned around, staring down into Belle's face and quietly marveling at her beauty. So unchanged from what he remembered, he smiled at her, especially as her brow knit in thought. He quietly took her hands, glancing at her fingertips and how unblemished they were. Staring at them, he could almost forget what he'd found in that tower. "...everything's fine, now."

"Rumple, what's…." Belle started to say, only to be interrupted by Wish-Rumple pulling her towards him and kissing her. The entire motion smooth and elegant, and with a hunger that sent a chill through her. Though he tried to deepen the kiss she pulled away - her gut, brain, and heart all screaming at her, each for different reasons. She flashed a nervous smile. "What's gotten into you?"

"I…." Wish-Rumple simply gazed down at her, feeling a mix of desperation and longing, yet mixed in was a gnawing dread.

Belle blushed seeing the longing look the other gave her, quietly wondering if that that was why her husband had left so abruptly. She glanced away, feeling self-conscious beneath that gaze, and also strangely violated.

Before either could say anything further, the shop door opened and shut, its little bell clinking.

"Gold." Regina called out as she entered the shop, the door shutting behind her. "There's something I need to ask you about."

Wish-Rumple, not used to the new moniker didn't respond at first, nor made any effort to head to the front of the shop. It wasn't until Belle grimaced and mumbled he should see what Regina needed, slightly annoyed by the interruption but also bemused by her husband ignoring it, that Wish-Rumple caught his gaffe.

"Fine. What is it you need, dearie?" Wish-Rumple said while stepping to the shop counter, his eyes locking on the dark haired mayor. Seeing her, he felt another feeling jab his gut, only this one less positive and more dark. It took reminding quietly himself that this woman wasn't the same Evil Queen from his realm for him to temper his bloodlust.

"There's…." Regina paused, getting a chill from the cold glare the other gave her. Upon seeing Belle step out from the back and say a quick goodbye before heading out, Regina briefly wondered if the cold glare was because she interrupted something. Not desiring to think about it, she tossed aside the thought. "There's a problem that needs fixing."

"Does it have anything to do with why you took down the protection spell around Storybrooke?" Wish-Rumple asked, feigning ignorance along with nonchalance. His lips twitched as Regina explained what Emma had told her - about Deidre and about the dangerous man who'd been with her. "That does seem to be a curious problem." He mumbled after a moment while silently laughing. "But nothing the Savior can't handle, I'd expect."

"Well, Emma is trying to figure out who that man could be, but neither of us know what could be the cause of Deidre's curse. I thought you might know, given your longer experience with dark magic."

Wish-Rumple mulled over Regina's words, curious himself about Deidre's unfortunate luck. Though he had recognized what it was and taken advantage of it to get into Storybrooke, he was curious why the unremarkable young woman was so afflicted.

"I first thought it was a wish backfiring, but why would its effect suddenly strengthen then?" Regina continued, her arms crossed briefly and then dropped to her sides. "Besides, she was in the Land Without Magic, so any magic should've been negated."

"Unless it's not the magic itself, but rather the price." Wish-Rumple replied, a reason occurring to him that would explain Deidre's particular luck.

His eyes darkened a sliver as he thought of his realm's Evil Queen and the maid who'd protested on her behalf. Though the Evil Queen had insisted the maiden was a servant, Wish-Rumple had overheard Audrina claim to be the Evil Queen's daughter. Something that he knew couldn't be true, not biologically. The Evil Queen had made herself barren years ago, to spite her mother.

"That doesn't make sense...how could someone incur the cost of magic without actually using magic?"

"There are a couple ways. One is a Karma Spell or any spell using Stardust. Both are quite potent, and their effects can even cross through realms."

Regina's eyes widened, her lips parted in disbelief. "Who can even cast one of those? Stardust is one of the most difficult magical ingredients to find let alone use and Karma Spells nearly always fail."

"That is something you're going to have to find out yourself, dearie. Until you do that, there's not much I can help with." Wish-Rumple replied coldly, his thoughts once more drifting to the Wish-Evil Queen's maid/daughter Audrina. The young woman had cast a powerful Karma Spell just before he jumped through a portal. It was possible Deidre's luck was connected to that, considering successfully cast Karma spells were rare even across realms.

"How am I supposed to find out that?!"

Wish-Rumple leered at Regina, tempted to offer a deal though he held back. 'If the curse affecting Deidre is connected to Audrina...I can't have Regina or the Savior finding out just yet...not until...'

"I wish I could help you, dearie, but I'm not versed in Karma Spells either. Karma magic and Dark One magic are generally incompatible." He paused, steeling himself against the urge to gesture and titter as he'd usually do. "Karma spells are powered from all the bad- and good-will garnered from every one of the caster's deeds throughout their lifetime. And that's the extent of my knowledge on the subject."

Regina frowned, that answer not one she'd wanted to hear - she'd hoped that Rumple would have had more knowledge on Karma magic.

"Stardust, however, is another matter." Wish-Rumple interjected, drawing Regina's frustrated gaze back to him. "It's a type of Fairy Dust. Extremely rare, but its effects can be reversed by Fairy Magic. If Deidre's curse is caused by Stardust, they'd be able to tell."


End file.
